Root and Stem
by tulipfever
Summary: A haunting of Hill House story but they didnt have that as a category. The youngest Crain child can only hear the whispers of future events. How her life will crumple when she left them for dead.


**Authors Note- All words in_ italics _represent words that are being signed or whispered. Ones in bold are spoken. **

_Six hours before. 9:03pm est. (6:03pm pdt.)_

She felt nothingness and it that nothingness, she felt peace. The utter, absolute serenity that Rosie felt was caused only by the autumn air making the fields of rye dance around her. She laid there -- whether it has been minutes or hours she did not know nor did she care. Rosie's eyes had been closed the whole time, feeling only the movement of the rustling grass sway her body. The movement had put her in a daze, it felt as though she was floating in space null of time or life. It was simply just her. Existing without anything or anyone else. Just Rosie. And that thought of inevitable loneliness didn't frighten her, it comforted her as if she just wrapped herself in a warm blanket. Feeling nothing, she thought, sometimes felt better than anything else. And since it felt better than something, it was truly not nothing. Even nothingness had to be something. So when she felt like nothingness outside of this field, she knew at least it was something.

Rosie fell back to earth when the warmness began to eclipse, showering her eyelids in cool shadows. Opening her eyes, she saw a tall figure standing in front of her. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the lighting but when they did she couldn't help but have a smile slowly appear up her face. It was her closest companion at the Farm and most trusted ally, Sawyer.

_"Come, or else you'll miss the harvest."_

_"You think I'd miss the harvest, with my appetite?"_

They both laughed without shame, as Sawyer extended his hand out for her to take. Getting to her feet, she felt an odd, tickling sensation of being grounded once again. She had been out there so long her legs had fallen asleep. She tapped her legs together to get rid of the unwanted pricks. Once the pain subsided, an idea came to her.

_Race_? She inquired with a devilish smile. Without even having to speak, they both knew his answer.

As they both playfully made their way out of the field, twirling and dancing around the other, Sawyer ending up getting ahead in their race to the Farm. Drifting behind, she gave up realizing how far ahead he had gotten. She sighed but was graceful with her defeat. The smile only fell when she heard a muffled whisper. Rosie stopped in her tracks, she hadn't had one of these in years. She looked around, as if someone was speaking to her completely daft to the notion her deafness couldn't just be healed one day. _There's no without. I am not gone._

That voice. She knew that voice. It had been a very long time since she had heard it, only a few times before in her youth while she was at Hill House. It took her awhile to distinguish who the mature voices were that she heard all those years ago but in her early teens, Rosie came to the conclusion they were her family's voices. Based on their younger voices she had her before the "incident", she finally assigned voices to each of her siblings.

This one was the one that inflicted so much pain and so much fear into her as a child. The one that truly haunted her, that always crept into the back of her mind. It always felt heavy when this voice came to her. This was the one that truly terrified Rosie.

This one was Nellie.

. . .

_Three hours before. 9:03pm PDT (12:03pm EST)_

Straight after the feast, she hastily made way to retire in her room. Rosie had barely touched her dinner because of the awful churning in her stomach. Ever since she heard her sisters voice in that field, she grew uneasy being unable to decipher it. I am not gone. Where have you gone, Nellie? For you to argue for such a claim. Without what? What will the Crain siblings find themselves in need of, Rosie thought, what will be missing?

Before she could scare herself further, Rosie shook anymore thoughts out of her head, she got ready for bed. It was early but she wished to sleep off these horrible thoughts and began anew in the morning. That's why she was here wasn't she. So Rosie could start over with a clean slate. No one here knew the damage the house brought to her or even knew her connection to the house at all. The Giving Tree Farm was secluded and very pristine in terms of what outside influences were shown in the farm. The library was filled with books on the universe, plants, harvesting, goodwill -- you would certainly never find her brothers book among them. So no one here knew the house existed and for moments in time she allowed herself to pretend to be that naive and innocent as well. However, right now she only felt guilt and shame for trying to erase her history and family away. She thought what she did by moving to Oregon was the best but now… she wasn't so sure.

In a subpar attempt to mask all her emotions, Rosie quickly got under her covers and closed her eyes hard. As if the tighter they were shut the easier she would fall asleep. That wasn't the case and it felt like hours before she finally felt herself drifting off to sleep. Soon, all would be quiet again.

…

_Hill House, 1992_

It couldn't have been more than a week since arriving to hill house when the dreams started. They were odd and beyond comprehension for her young mind. She would dream darkness. Nothing but total blackness everywhere she looked. Like she was locked in her closet, no air, no life, no shadows -- just dark. These dreams started eerily quiet but not long after, an orchestra of screams and cries erupted yet still, she could not find the source. As if the dark was producing those sounds. They weren't people but instead one thing, a collective black hole of all that is tormenting and cruel in nature. Seeping and infesting itself until every crevice of her mind was painted it's sickly black.

At the time she didn't know, how could she, Rosie was so young and fragile, like a brand new teacup being thrown into the jungle. When she had these dreams, the girl would thrash around her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Needless to say the dreams never lasted long because just as quickly as they began, they ended with her being awoken by either her mom or dad. Sometimes both._ It's time to wake up, sweetheart_.

She heard in her ear, so prominent from the other voices she heard it almost felt real and maybe it was, who was she to say in an episode like this. She could feel the hot air against her skin. It sounded like her mom only distant. Like she had said it from across the room and next to her ear all at once. Except when Rosie finally opened her eyes, she wasn't greeted by her mom instead she looked upon her worried father. Even at only five years old, Rosie couldn't make sense of what just happened, although she couldn't make sense of a plethora of other things at that age.

"**Hey Rosie Posie, you're alright. You're safe**." Her dad cooed softly to her while embracing the child. She felt safe in her father's arms, yet there was this other feeling bubbling up inside of her that she couldn't quite figure out. Only looking back on it as an adult had she realized.

What she felt was uncertainty.

…

_12:03 am PDT (3:03 am EST)_

_Mommy?_ There that voice was again, Nell's. Only this time it had found its way back into her sleep. Into the dark abyss that was Rosie's mind. She hadn't had the voices come to her in her sleep since she was a child. After the first few screaming fits she had at Hill House, Olivia and Hugh took her to a doctor worried she might thrash too hard one day and hit her head on the nightstand. The Doctor, unbeknownst to the true horrors behind her mental state, diagnosed Rosie with night terrors. He said it was a part of a child's development and she would grow out of it soon. If not, he told them of other options. Hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy, all of it.

Rosie didn't grow out of it though, if anything they got worse. She found herself sprawled out across the floor, or standing in front of the window seemingly looking out. She was barely tall enough to see out the glass but looking wasn't the point. It was what she was seeing inside. Rosie was trying to find her way out of the maze of nightime.

This one particular night, she found her sleeping body walking towards the winding staircase next to the red room. The whisper this time was echoed and quiet, she was lured to it like a lullaby. What was the mysterious voice saying. She could hear her heart thumping loudly in her chest, a strange terror arising in the pit of her stomach as she neared the staircase. The voice echoed as if they were in a tunnel now and her heart had reached a crescendo, if it beat any faster she might have fallen dead.

_Wake up._ Nothing.

_Wake up. _Nothing

_WAKE UP_. Rosie could've sworn she felt her heart stop, complete silence was suddenly met with the most ear splitting scream the young girl could ever fathom. Rosie went to scream out in fright but found herself voiceless. The screams turned into a ringing and she reached to cover her small ears. She felt a wetness dripping from them, but the world around her still had all the lights turned off and she could not see what the substance was but she could smell it. It was salty.

The darkness began to change, shapeshift almost, from a conscious scene to unconscious. It all felt heavy and droopy around her as it pulled her to the ground. Rosie's head collided with the floor and then the nothingness was truly nothing.

When she woke, she was back in her bed and the world was bright once more. The sun was gleaming in through her windows and the breeze made her curtains dance in the wind. Yet she could not hear the swish of the curtains. As she looked around the room, it was quiet. Like she was awake and the world was asleep.

"**Mommy**?" She could've sworn she said it but yet nothing seemed to come out. So exhausted and scared Rosie tried again, this time louder.

"**MOMMY**!" Yet nothing was to be heard, but she felt the burn in her throat as if she had. She began to cry and felt the idyllic comfort of the warm tears stained her cheeks. By this time, Olivia Crain readily made her way to her child's bedside, followed by the majority of the family. Rosie began to sniffle and huff, they were all moving their lips but she couldn't hear them. She thought it was her fault, she always wished for her nightmares to be silenced but maybe she accidentally wished for the wrong thing. Maybe she wished and the world became silent.

_It's time to wake up , sweetheart._ Rosie woke up, gasping for air as she clutched her throat. She had heard that once before and hearing it again mean it came to fruition -- that much she knew. Steadying her breath and composed herself. Unlike years ago, when she was laced with uncertainty, that had washed away and she had never been more sure of something. Nell was gone, in truth she has always known, always had this sense of deja vu from the whispers of her youth but it was just now when she realized. In a way, she felt guilty, she had always had this inkling that something would happen to Nell and she never tried any preventative measures. Rosie felt weighted with shame. She should've saved her sister. She should've known better.

In that moment, something changed in her. Rosie decided she never wanted to leave her family again. She wanted to be there for them and that meant leaving the farm. In hast, she began packing the few material items she had left. Three basic linen outfits, sandals and a journal. In just a few short minutes, her whole life was packed away. Rosie contemplated if she was doing the right thing for a moment but she knew this was what she had to do. All that was holding her back here was Sawyer. She never said goodbye to Nell, the least she could do is say goodbye to Sawyer.

Quietly making her way down the corridor of the sleeping hall, she stopped at the entrance to his room. She gently knocked on the door before slowly opening it. Through the small crack she had made in the doorway, she could see him sound asleep in his bed. She shut the door behind her with such gentleness that she knew it didn't make a sound.

Kneeling beside his bed, she shook his arm lightly to wake him. He was awoken groggily with a moan of confusion. Once he saw who was at his bedside, he signed "_Rosie, what's wrong_?"

"_I've got to go away for a while_." Even with only a sliver of pale moonlight on his face, she could see his brows furrow.

"_Why_?"

_"My family… they need me right now."_

"_We are your family, Rosie._" His eyes softened, he didn't mean to be so forward with it but they were the only family they had known for a decade. He told her many years ago how he found sanctuary here after his parents kicked him, he never told her the reason but she could muster up a few ideas.

_"I know and you always will be but this is something i have to go do. Please understand_."

He was hesitant but he must've seen the pleading in her eyes because he nodding, faintly breathing out an agreement. Rosie eyes washed away from worry and reached up to engulf him in a hug. Sawyer reciprocated the embrace and they stayed like that. For a minute or two, neither of them knew if this would be their last hug and neither of them wanted to know the answers.

A few hours later, returning to her room she slowly reached for her nightstands drawer and pulled out a cellphone. The people of the Farm thought cell phones were unnecessary but they weren't prohibited. Rosie just happened to get forget about hers a long time ago, so it had a thin layer of dust blanketing it. She went to dial her father's number when she stopped, if he didn't already know, did she really want to be the bearer of bad news. _Okay, lets try Steven's._ She thought, since he was the last Crain member she talked to when he reached out to offer her money from his book. She ended up taking it in secret, not only was she sure that her sisters would not approve, the Farm was also against such superficial things. She went to his contact and video called him.

"**Hello**?" He looked just as burdened as she felt.

"**Is she… Is Nell…**" She said softly. When they left hill house to live with Aunt Janet, she made sure to get Rosie the best speech therapist in town. So she was able to keep her coherent speech into Adulthood.

Steve only nodded in response, and that was enough for Rosie. That was the deciding factor for the task she faced all night long. She would return to Massachusetts to reunite with her family. If only it hadn't been in these circumstances. That night, silence or noise would have upset her. For there was no comfort in a world without Nell because that means everything she heard would come true and some of the voices said the unspeakable.


End file.
